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1932:The 60-Yard Circus

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1932:The 60-Yard Circus 1932 NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE 1 The 60-Yard Circus By Bob Carroll (Based in part on text from The Football Encyclopedia, Neft, Cohen, and Korch) When the National Football League reached its 13th year in 1932, it had come a long way from its Worst of all, the NFL’s product needed humble beginnings in Ralph Hay’s Canton, Ohio, refurbishing. NFL football had too many dull, low- Hupmobile showroom, but it still had a long way to scoring games. In 1931, half of the league’s go. Pro football was still a very distant second to teams averaged a single touchdown plus extra the college game in popularity. And football in point or less per game. On those occasions when any form couldn’t match baseball’s hold on the a team got two touchdowns ahead in the first half, nation’s sports fans. the game was as good as over. Why spend hard- to-get entertainment dollars on games that The problems were obvious. The league had weren’t very entertaining? teams in New York, Brooklyn, and Boston and two teams in Chicago, but it still hadn’t broken free of The NFL played under virtually the same rules as its small town origins. League president Joe Carr college football, but the perception of the two had worked hard at locating NFL franchises in games by the fans was different: college football, larger cities all during the 1920s, only to see awash in ancient rivalries and hoopla, was failures in such major league cities as exciting; pro football, with its low scores, was not. Philadelphia, St. Louis, Detroit, and Cleveland. The only major change in the rules for 1932, a Other unsuccessful franchises of note included substitution change allowing a replaced player to Buffalo, Cincinnati, Washington, Milwaukee, return in a subsequent quarter, had no effect on Minneapolis, Louisville, Akron, Toledo, and the lack of scoring. In 1932, NFL games Kansas City. If anything, the league seemed to be averaged only 16.4 points for both teams, the going backwards. Neither Portsmouth, Green lowest per-game record since 1926. Ironically, at Bay, nor Staten Island could be mistaken for a a time when the NFL showed the least offense in metropolis. Until the NFL established itself years, the league decided to keep official exclusively in major league cities, many critics statistics. agreed, it was unlikely to be considered as a major league. Since at least 1927, league owners had been talking about splitting the league into divisions so The Great Depression was hardly unique to pro there could be two title races and, as a season- football, but it certainly exacerbated the league’s ending extravaganza, a championship game. But problems. With so many potential fans in bread the result was only talk. The NFL went into yet lines, small wonder that teams had trouble filling another season under championship rules even the smaller stadiums. Since the onset of the established more than a decade earlier -- a single Depression, franchises had gone under in Prov- race determined by winning percentage. idence, Cleveland, Frankford (Philadelphia), Minneapolis, and Newark. Membership had The 1932 season began as a continuation of the dropped from twelve teams in 1929 to only eight previous season, but before it ended, it pointed entering 1932. the way toward solving some of the problems besetting pro football. Any excitement of a championship race was lost by mid-October for many teams. The league had The Season nothing resembling parity and no plan for achieving it. Too many championship races had In midseason, the Green Bay Packers looked like seen either runaways by one or two clubs while a sure bet to win their fourth straight NFL the rest of the league maneuvered to stay out of championship. On the eve of their annual trip last place, or had been embroiled in controversy east, they had won seven games, including when it came time to award the championship, or victories of 15-10 over the Portsmouth Spartans both. and 2-0 over the Chicago Bears, and had been 1932 NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE 2 held to a scoreless tie by the Bears. The throw the bulk of their passes, the Giants unbeaten Pack flexed its defensive muscle, reacquired veteran Jack McBride who had starred posting five shutouts in the eight games. The rival for their first team in 1925 and their championship Spartans and Bears had no losses other than squad of 1927. those with the Packers, but both teams had won fewer games and had been tied more often. After Without Friedman, the Giants shuffled into the the games of November 6, the Packers would game 2-5-1. Before 30,000 fans, however, New meet the relatively weak clubs in Boston, New York smothered the Packers’ offense and built a York, Brooklyn, and Staten Island, then end the McBride-to-Ray Flaherty touchdown pass in the season with key games in Portsmouth and first half into a 6-0 upset. The Bears and Chicago. Spartans both won their games. All three contenders had one defeat apiece, but the Green Bay coach Curly Lambeau traveled east Packers had won eight, the Spartans five, and the with a squad that had undergone key changes. Bears three. The veteran line featuring Cal Hubbard, Mike Michalske, Lavie Dilweg, and Nate Barrager was The Packers finished their eastern swing without unchanged, but the backfield had an injection of further trouble, beating the Dodgers 7-0 in Ebbets youth. After two years of inactivity on the bench, Field on Thanksgiving Day and the Staten Island Arnie Herber won the starting tailback job with Stapletons 21-3 three days later in tiny Thompson long-range passing that more than offset his lack Stadium. Meanwhile, the Bears defeated the of speed afoot. By the end of the season, he Cardinals, who were much weakened by the ranked as the league’s first official leading passer. retirement of Ernie Nevers, 34-0 on Thanksgiving Powerful rookie Clarke Hinkle from Bucknell and met the Spartans the following Sunday in a settled in for a long stretch as the Packer fullback. rematch which, of course, ended in a tie 7-7. Second-year men Hank Bruder and Roger Grove also saw increased playing time in the backfield. The Spartans hosted the Packers on December 4, Of Green Bay’s veteran backs, Johnny Blood still and, in a couple of hours, the Green Bay dynasty played most of the time, but Verne Lewellen and was over. Eleven Spartans played the entire Hurdis McCrary slipped into reserve status, Red game. Portsmouth’s Dutch Clark, Father Dunn retired, and Bo Molenda was traded to New Lumpkin, Ace Gutowsky, and Glenn Presnell York. With a brand new backfield, the Packers outperformed the Green Bay backs as. the kept winning. Packers’ offense went to pieces, completing only one pass in sixteen attempts. The 19-0 Spartan The road trip began with a 21-0 victory over the victory dropped the Packers out of the race with Boston Braves on November 13. George Preston two losses to go with ten wins and a tie. Marshall and two partners organized the Braves Additionally, it assured Portsmouth with a 6-1-4 for 1932, presumably having purchased the 1931 mark of finishing in at least a tie for first place. Newark franchise, but a $46,000 loss this season left Marshall the sole owner for the future. The The Bears were still alive. The same afternoon Braves could not match the Packers, but they did the Spartans were ending Green Bay’s hopes, have a respectable club. Its star was Cliff Battles Chicago beat the Giants at Wrigley Field 6-0 to whose open-field running made him the first stay within a half game of Portsmouth. The official NFL rushing champion. While the Braves Giants finished fifth in an eight-team league with a and Packers met in Boston, the Bears and 4-6-2 mark. The Maramen needed some new Spartans, true to habit, fought to a 13-13 tie in blood, but Coach Steve Owen would stay on to Chicago. supervise the rejuvenation. One week later, the Packers made their annual Portsmouth had completed its schedule, but the pilgrimmage to the Polo Grounds. The Giants 5-1-6 Bears still had one more game left to play -- had a different look from the powerhouse squads with Green Bay no less. On December 11, of 1929 and 1930. Benny Friedman had moved Green Bay faced the Bears and a heavy across the East River to play with the Brooklyn snowstorm in Chicago. The Packers’ offense Dodgers after Giants owner Tim Mara turned contin-ued to flatline, but after three quarters the down his bid for part ownership of the club. The score stood 0-0. Then, in the final period, the Giants relied on Chris Cagle as their main running Bears put up nine points to bring Chicago at 6-1-6 threat and selling point in advertisements. To into a tie with 6-1-4 Portsmouth for first. Despite 1932 NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE 3 all the disputed championships in the league’s football had legalized this a year earlier, but this first dozen years, this was the first race to actually was the first use of “hash marks” in the pros. end in a tie. Another special rule dictated that touchbacks were brought out to only the ten. Field goals were Had the league compiled its standings as it does banned. now -- counting a tie game as a half win-half loss - - the championship would have gone to Green The game’s major influence on the future of how Bay with ten-and-one-half “wins” to Chicago’s pro football came to be played would surface nine and Portsmouth’s eight.
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